Trip to Spain - January 2026
General Notes
Three days travelling the railways in eastern and northern Spain. A five-day loco-hauled railtour had been planned by PTG to run from Saturday onwards, but a combination of the bad accident at Adamuz and the awful weather and a couple of accidents in the Barcelona area meant that the trip was cancelled by the railway authorities. I had organised my own flights and had time to plan an alternative few days, taking care to allow plenty of time for connections and keeping clear of the Barcelona area suburban system. The weather continued to be very windy and rainy.
Numbers/letters in [square brackets] are platform identifiers. Photo album here.
Operating Company Abbreviations and Details
- FEVE - Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha (Narrow Gauge Railways); RENFE FEVE from 2013, then Renfe Cercanías AM (Ancho Metrico), now gradually being integrated into RENFE.
- RENFE - Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (national train operator in Spain)
Track gauge
RENFE trains are broad (1668 mm) gauge unless otherwise stated: gauge-changing trains are listed individually. FEVE trains are metre gauge. All other trains, metros and trams are standard gauge unless otherwise stated. Standard gauge: 1435 mm; metre gauge: 1000 mm.
| Place | Arrive | Depart | Train | Traction details & notes |
Friday 23 January 2026
| Timperley | 03:30 | - | Taxi | |
| Manchester Airport T1/T3 (MAN) | 03:45 | 05:45 | FR 641 | Ryanair 9H-VVL B737 MAX8-200 push-back 05:41 from gate 56, take-off 05:54 from runway 05L |
| València (VLC) | 09:20 | Landed 09:16 on runway 30, on stand 6B at 09:21 | ||
| Aeroport | 10:06 | '3' | metrovalencia metro 4353 metre gauge | |
| Xàtiva | 10:27 | time to look around València Nord and walk to Joaquín Sorolla | ||
| València Joaquín Sorolla | 11:43 [4] | AVE 5890 | RENFE AVE class 100 set 4 (standard gauge) dep 12 late; via standard gauge alignment, left track; right track from north of Sagunt | |
| Castelló de la Plana | 12:49 [6] | 15:17 [5] | Reg 14302 | arr 7 late / RENFE EMU 470 118 rev L'Aldea-Amposta-Tortosa [4] 16:48/16:55 |
| Tortosa | 17:24 [1] | 18:23 [1] | Reg 14304 | RENFE EMU 470 118 rev L'Aldea-Amposta-Tortosa [5] 18:37/18:40; via left track from after Santa Magdalena to after Alcala de Xivert |
| Castelló de la Plana | 20:08 [4] | arr 10 late Today's photos | ||
| New passenger track today: València Joaquin Sorolla standard gauge connection to Sagunt line dual gauge track; L'Aldea-Amposta-Tortosa - Tortosa. | ||||
| Overnight: Hotel Civis Luz, Pintor Oliet 3, Castelló de la Plana. | ||||
| Notes: The flight and first train were the only things that remained of my originally-planned itinerary. The flight needed to be on time, and it was, and the inevitable delays through the Entry/Exit System at VLC were not too bad. It's really handy having the good metro connection from the airport into the city centre, and in the end I had plenty of time to visit Nord station first to see how the arched roof renovation is getting on (one span now complete) before walking the ten minutes or so to Joaquín Sorolla, and plenty of time for a coffee+cake there. AVE 5890 is one train of two pairs that run as standard gauge trains to Castelló de la Plana: these use a connecting crossover at the station throat then the one operational dual gauge track via Sagunt to Castelló. These trains are distinguishable from the gauge-changing AVE trains that used to run to Castelló by the fact that they do not call at Sagunt, as the track layout does not permit this. As it happens the gauge changer and the broad gauge platforms at València Joaquín Sorolla have been closed in the past few weeks so the gauge changing trains to Castelló can no longer run anyway: this seems to be a permanent change now as part of the ongoing complete reconstruction of the approach tracks to the València stations. Next task was the broad gauge branch line from L'Aldea-Amposta-Tortosa to Tortosa. Tortosa used to be on the through main line route from Barcelona/Tarragona to València until, as part of the general speeding-up of the route, a bypass was built in 1996, leaving Tortosa on the end of a branch. It sees trains from both Tarragona as part of the Rodalies de Catalunya network, and Regional Express trains from València/Castelló. I chose to cover the branch from the Castelló direction to avoid any residual problems there might have been from the Tarragona direction - as it happens these had restarted this morning, but with delays, and they ceased again from late morning next day. All these regional trains reverse at L'Aldea-Amposta-Tortosa, a new station built when the bypass opened. I had time in Tortosa to walk to the disused bridge over the Ebro river, nowadays a footpath/Via Verde, and also time for a beer in Tortosa station buffet - as this was my last 'required' broad gauge branch line in Spain. |
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Saturday 24 January 2026
| Castelló de la Plana | 09:52 [5] | Euromed 1092 | RENFE Alvia class 130 set 38 (broad gauge) dep 12 late | |
| Pause then cross to left track after Torreblanca; return before Alcala de Xivert (track maintenance trains at Alcala); stop then cross to left track before Vinarós; left side through line at L’Aldea-Amposta-Tortosa, due to stabled freight on other through line, which had been there yesterday; cross back to right track after L'Ametila de Mar; eastbound gauge changer at La Boella 11:35 to standard gauge; Camp de Tarragona [7] 11:44/11:50 | ||||
| Barcelona Sants | 12:20 [1] | 14:32 [4] | Alvia 530 | arr 23 late / RENFE EMU class 120 set 02 (standard gauge) |
| Via high speed line - Camp de Tarragona [6] 15:07/15:10 - short curve into Lleida Pirineus [1] 15:40/15:42 then short curve back onto high speed line - short curve into Zaragoza Delicias [4] 16:33/16:36 - gauge changer 16:42 to broad gauge - Castejón de Ebro [1] 17:33 - Pamplona [7] 18:46 - Alsasua [12] 19:25 | ||||
| Donostia/San Sebastián | 21:01 [1] | Today's photos | ||
| New passenger track today: eastbound gauge changer at La Boella, and flying junction 'short curve' onto the high speed line at Camp de Tarragona. | ||||
| Overnight: Hotel Arrizul Catedral, 51 Urbieta Kalea, Donostia-San Sebastián. | ||||
| Notes: Overnighting in Castelló de la Plana was ideal for covering my last required gauge changer in Spain, eastbound at La Boella (I had done the independent westbound gauge changer a few years ago), this also completed my last significant sections of broad and standard gauge track in Spain - now I just need a couple of flying junctions on the standard gauge high speed lines. Though there were speed restriction-related delays on some routes, the train from Barcelona to Donostia/San Sebastián ran near enough on time throughout. |
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Sunday 25 January 2026
| Amara-Donostia | 08:51 [3] | 'E1' | Euskotren EMU 927 (metre gauge) via Zarautz - Amorebieta | |
| Zazpikaleak/Casco Viejo-Bilbao | 11:21 | walk to | ||
| Arriaga | 11:35 | Euskotren tram 501 (metre gauge) | ||
| Bolueta | 11:42 | 11:52 | Euskotren tram 501 (metre gauge) via scissors crossover | |
| Abando | 12:04 | |||
| Bilbao La Concordia | 13:31 [4] | 72572 | RENFE/FEVE DMU 2427/2477 (metre gauge) via Aranguren - Karrantza - Gibaja - Marrón (cross 71853, dep 11 late) | |
| Orejo | 16:03 | 16:11 | arr 30 late rail replacement bus dep 23 late | |
| Astillero | 16:31 | 16:40 | (72572) | arr 14 late / RENFE/FEVE EMU 3903 (metre gauge) dep 13 late |
| Santander | 17:01 [1] | arr 10 late Today's photos | ||
| New passenger track today: Zarautz - Amorebieta; Aranguren - Gibaja. Bilbao tram: Atxuri - Bolueta. | ||||
| Overnight: Hotel Abba Santander, Calderón de la Barca 3, Santander. | ||||
| Notes: Though I had travelled over almost all of the metre gauge networks by now, I still had two gaps where engineering works had previously 'foiled' me. These were the long section west of Zarautz on the Euskotren system as far as the triangular junction at Amorebieta, and between Aranguren - Gibaja on the Bilbao - Santander FEVE line. These were successfully covered today, though there was a rail replacement bus over a section I had done previously, between Orejo and Astillero just east of Santander. The only section of Euskotren I now need is the third side of the triangle at Amorebieta, which has a late Saturday night/early Sunday morning service. I also had time to cover the two-stop extension to the Bilbao tramway, from Atxuri to Bolueta. The main Euskotren route from San Sebastián used to run from Kukkulaga via Bolueta to a terminus at Atxuri, but this closed in 2019 so that the main line could be linked into the rest of the Euskotren network in Bilbao. The old Atxuri station is now a depot area, which the tram route runs through. There are plans to extend the trams back to Kukkulaga. |
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Monday 26 January 2026
| Santander bus station | 09:00 | 'S4' | Alsa bus | |
| Aeropuerto Santander | 09:15 | |||
| Santander (SDR) | 11:30 | RK5632 | Ryanair G-RUKH B737-8AS push-back 11:24 from gate 6; take-off 11:30 from runway 11 | |
| Edinburgh (EDI) | 12:55 | landed 12:28 on runway 06; waited for available gate; on stand 17 at 12:46 | ||
| Edinburgh Airport | 13:06 | Edinburgh tram 275 | ||
| Newhaven | 14:06 [1] | 14:21 [1] | arrive via crossover / Edinburgh tram 275 | |
| St Andrew Square | 14:36 | |||
| Edinburgh Waverley | 14:52 [8] | 9M86 | Avanti West Coast EMU 390 127 | |
| Preston | 17:17 [4] | 17:48 [4] | 1M90 | TransPennine Express EMU 397 006 via Bolton [4] 18:07; delayed at Castlefield Jn |
| Manchester Oxford Road | 18:22 [4] | arr 16 late; walk to | ||
| St Peter's Square | 18:48 | Metrolink tram 3058+3048 | ||
| Timperley | 19:21 | Today's photos | ||
| New passenger track today: York Square - Newhaven (Edinburgh trams). | ||||
| Notes: When doing my re-planning for this trip I found this very useful Ryanair flight from Santander to Edinburgh. Santander airport is easy to get to via S4 bus, every 40 minutes. The Edinburgh tram network (one line) had extended by 5 km from York Square to Newhaven since I last had time in Edinburgh, so this opportunity was taken. I had two spare days on my Global InterRail, including both "home country" outbound/inbound days, and I was able to use one of these to travel from Edinburgh to Manchester in First Class for free. The weekday Avanti West Coast first class service includes a meal (I had a very nice 'bangers and mash') plus snacks, hot drinks and also alcoholic drinks. TransPennine Express has a similar service but as I was on it for a much shorter time I just had a free coffee. |
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| Summary: an excellent few days, perhaps a bit fortunate to be outside the areas that were having weather problems but I had considered that in the planning. I have now travelled over all Spanish broad gauge passenger track (as available from January 2021 onwards) and all Spanish standard gauge passenger track except one side of a small number of flying junctions on the high speed lines. I have also travelled over all the mainland metre gauge passenger track except the two rack lines to Montserrat and to Núria. Tickets used: Friday and Saturday: two days of a Global InterRail, with reservations from Rail Europe. Sunday: single tickets. Monday: "outbound" day of a Global InterRail. Weather: dry sunny but windy on Friday; very windy and rainy on the other days. |